Yes! I agree and for me that’s AM when listening quality matters, but Tidal for discovery and enjoying Roon or Plexamp or my InnuOS Sense system. Tidal have integration sorted.
It seems to me that Tidal should be careful not to lose subscribers who care most about quality playback.
Tidal has a tough road ahead now that they’re competing more directly with Apple and Amazon. The buyout by Block came at a good time. I’m hoping they continue in their efforts to develop innovative ways to pay artists more equitably.
Just to close the loop, I did the same comparison on an iOS device: 12.9” iPad Pro > THX Onyx > Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro, Apple Music 24/96 vs Tidal 24/48 MQA 96. It was actually easier to do more seamless switching on this device. Again I’m hearing no difference.
One thing I’m wondering about, you may be listening to compressed AAC files due to the use of Airplay in your signal path. There’s an assumption that lossless/hi-res is always better, but sometimes people will prefer high bit rate lossy. Archimago conducted a blind test among his audiophile readers comparing high bit rate lossy to lossless (CD 16/44.1). Most were unable to consistently identify the files, but in cases where they could hear a difference, some actually preferred the lossy files. That caused quite a stir as you’d imagine… lol.
I’m not sure about that as they have integration , I can use Roon, Tidal direct, LMS, connect.
Apple have some better playlist and spatial music.
For me as a yearly subscriber it’s Roon who may get the chop as in the UK I can have Tidal and Apple cheaper than Tidal and Roon and I’ll just loose a little functionality, i’m not bothered about the metadata, it’s all on the internet if i want to investigate.
Ok. Thanks for indulging me, much appreciated.
To clarify my experience with this track (and many others on AM), I have compared AirPlay to Lossless and Hi-Res from Apple. I struggled to hear a noticeable difference with this track. Both sound similar but I think the Hi-Res is slightly better (but that could be psychological). However, I also listened (properly - via a tethered iOS device to my DAC) to Apple Lossless and Hi-Res compared to Tidal HiFi and MQA and can hear a big improvement on both Apple versions.
So, I do prefer the AirPlay lossy AM version but also the Apple Lossless and Hi-Res versions too. To me, all of them sound much better than the track on Tidal.
Slightly off topic, but between Apple and Tidal, who do you think provides the better functionality when using the apps on IOS etc?
That is a really good point. I had not considered that. But for me and many other Roon users it’s the local music library management that matters too.
I wouldn’t want Tidal and Apple if I ditched Roon for good, as I only want Tidal for access to a streaming music service via Roon/Plexamp and InnuOS Sense. All of which are great for my purchased music collection for various reasons and all integrate with Tidal but not AM.
However, I don’t want to manage more than one online/streaming library, listening history and rated songs. I also want a system to manage my ripped CD/downloaded library of purchased music. This is how I support the artists in my own small way and a purchased library is a different experience to a streamed library and its algorithms. This is Roon’s point of difference for me. Just that I am disillusioned with Tidal now.
Ultimately, Roon and Tidal will lose my subscription without either a Roon Apple Music integration or a proper Roon and Radio Paradise integration. If I remove a streaming service from Roon, better options for my purchases library are appearing elsewhere.
You are Right
Apple sound great if you have the gear for it
Ex. AppleTV hdmi into one of the new stereo amps handling hdmi in the right way
Another example is Freya Ridings that sounds so much better with Apple/Qobuz than Tidal
But Qobuz with Roon sounds best in my ears
Depends what functionality you are looking for.
Apple is better for what’s important to me:
As for Tidal:
I’ll try to add to this is more come to me.
OMG!! This is a great example!!
I just listened the to the whole track twice each on Tidal and Apple Music. This song on Apple Music gives me goosebumps that the Tidal version doesn’t. This is rare. Something in the depth of the vocal and piano on Apple Music that Tidal just doesn’t reproduce.
Admittedly I haven’t tried this via Tidal to my main Audio setup yet. I will for sure try it later.
A great example though. Thank you for sharing that.
You know what, that could be a solution. Apple Music plus Qobuz+Roon/InnuOS Sense for my purchased music. No Plexamp integration though. 
Shame because it doesn’t solve the problem of having two streaming library’s to sync/manage which is a real plain, even with Soundiz in the mix. Plus I’ll have to pay for Roon and Qobuz and I don’t think I’d get Value out of that.
But I’m getting off my own topic here. Tidal is looking and sounding like it’s losing ground on listening quality.
Interested to hear if others have some more good examples like yours.
It sounds as if you’re set on Apple Music, which is great, but if you’re interested in digging a little deeper you might find this interesting. He uses null testing to compare the output of the various streaming services.
I’m seeing different masters on this song. Atmos on AM and MQA on Tidal.
I’ve never heard of Freya Ridings. So I’ve looked her up through Roon.
I’ve played Poison, the first track on her first album.
First through Tidal as a FLAC 44.1 kHz 24 bits, MQA 44.1 kHz. After that through Qobuz as FLAC 44.1 kHz 24 bits. I’ve also looked her up on Deezer and Apple Music.
Played on my M1 MacBook Pro.
M1 MacBook Pro → iFi Zen DAC V2 → PreSonus Eris E4.5 BT monitor speakers.
Probably because of Roon, both Qobuz and Tidal sounded much louder compared to Deezer’s and Apple Music’s own apps. Even though I’m not using DSP at all.
I couldn’t tell the difference between the Qobuz FLAC and Tidal MQA versions. But both sounded better here compared to Deezer and Apple Music.
Both Qobuz and Tidal signal paths here.
I don’t have Deezer, but on Apple Music, Poison by Freya Ridings is an Atmos master, which probably explains the lower volume. Atmos is usually mastered to a lower LUFS target than stereo.
Hi, Not really, well probably. I’m just deciding whether or not to ditch Tidal or switch to Qobuz for integration with Roon/Plexamp/InnuOS etc. There is no perfect solution. But more interested in if others also think Apple has better quality than Tidal.
Thanks for the video. I saw his earlier incarnation when he said YouTube Music was awful, I think it was pre-Apple Lossless. This time it looks like he thinks they are all pretty similar (apart from Spotify and YouTube).
I try to ignore Atmos/Apple Spatial and MQA, I don’t like either. Just personal preference I suppose.
There is also an Apple Lossless Version. I don’t like Atmos most of the time.
You’ve got me playing and comparing now, down the rabbit hole.
Try one of these to connect iPad to AMP, seems to have a built in DAC. USB-C direct into my Bluesound.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B097DF3R5B/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
This thread has piqued my curiosity. This morning I used Audio Hijack to record a section of the Van Morrison song from both Apple Music (HiRes) and Tidal (decoded MQA). I brought both recordings into my DAW, lined up the waveforms, and reversed the phase on one track. They didn’t completely null, but they came very close, with only a tiny bit of high frequency information coming through. So at least here, when recording directly from the Tidal and AM apps to my hard drive, the tracks are very, very close to identical. I’m still stumped to understand what you’re hearing, but I’m glad to at least verify that I’m not going deaf… lol.
